Today in History - Dec. 1

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Today is Friday, Dec. 1, the 335th day of 2006. There are 30 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:
On Dec. 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, a black seamstress, refused to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery, Alabama, city bus. Mrs. Parks was arrested, sparking a year-long boycott of the buses by blacks.

On this date:
In 1824, the presidential election was turned over to the U.S. House of Representatives when a deadlock developed between John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, William H. Crawford and Henry Clay. (Adams ended up the winner.)

In 1904, the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis closed after seven months and some 20 million visitors.

In 1913, the first drive-in automobile service station, built by Gulf Refining Company, opened in Pittsburgh.

In 1921, the Navy flew the first nonrigid dirigible to use helium; the C-7 traveled from Hampton Roads, Virginia, to Washington, D.C.

In 1934, Soviet communist official Sergei M. Kirov, an associate of Josef Stalin, was assassinated in Leningrad, resulting in a massive purge.

In 1956, the Leonard Bernstein musical “Candide,” based on Voltaire, opened on Broadway.

In 1969, the U.S. government held its first draft lottery since World War II.

In 1973, David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first prime minister, died in Tel Aviv at age 87.

In 2000, Vicente Fox was sworn in as president of Mexico, ending 71 years of ruling-party domination.

Ten years ago: The Arab League held an emergency meeting in Cairo, after which it warned Israel that peace efforts would be endangered if Israel insisted on expanding Jewish settlements.

Five years ago: Two suicide bombers blew themselves up in back-to-back explosions at a downtown Jerusalem pedestrian mall, killing eleven bystanders. A baby girl was born to Japan’s Crown Princess Masako and Crown Prince Naruhito, the royal couple’s first child in eight years of marriage; she was later named Aiko.

One year ago: A roadside bomb killed ten U.S. Marines near Fallujah, Iraq. Pakistani officials reported that Hamza Rabia, one of al-Qaida’s top five leaders, was killed by Pakistani security forces near the Afghan border. South Africa’s highest court ruled in favor of gay marriage. A jury in Sarasota, Florida, recommended the death sentence for Joseph Smith, the killer of 11-year-old Carlie Brucia. A dog and its owner found the bodies of Sarah and Philip Gehring, two children who’d been fatally shot by their father and buried in rural Ohio.